Funboard frolicking

[Jester]

So today was the day, my 7'2 total babe of a board and I were set to get intimately acquainted. I drove the 2hrs to the beach with her and my trusty Bic 8'4 for good measure. Report said 3-4ft onshore wind of 8-15mph.

Got there, it was flat as a pancake..

A few miserable wind driven corrugations flopped pathetically offshore and the reef stayed sullenly asleep under it's blanket of morose grey clothing.

I thought to hell with it, I'd at least get used to paddling her and finding her sweet spot so sat down to give it the inaugural waxing which felt vaguely special and hallowed. A local surfer sensed the importance of the time honoured tradition and our right of passage and came by to share a few words and have a look at her.

In fact everywhere we went she got admiring glances. My partner was garnishing me with respect down to her sleek lines, svelte hips and attractive posture. Actually showed her to my old surf instructor and he was chuffed I'd made a really good choice so was well pleased. Everyone comments on how the hard rails in the hips are going to be great for some fast turny action in bigger stuff. I saw admiration, nay desire in their eyes!!

OK so I got out into the crappy nothingness and said to the old girl.."right, it's just you and me, let's see how we get on" grabbed her by the waist and off we went.

1. - I was expecting hell if I'm honest, this thing is tiny compared to my BIC and weighs about half! BUT.. it was magnificently easy to find the balance point! Really simple as it turns out, lovely feeling, so easy to centre! It took me literally all of 5 minutes to adjust to lying on her. Ecstatic

2. - Paddling, very very easy to paddle! Surprising but although I've lost planing speed I've also lost incredible weight and my new board dances on through with no trouble! I felt what Uncle Jaffa said was true of the bigger board being more corky and this was more 'in' the water. The sharper snout also seems to aid my hands entry into the water and she planes like a dream. Would love a side by side comparison but no complaints over paddling.

3. - manoeuvrability, WOW now this IS a difference from my longer board. Why does no one tell you how GOOD this is?!! it's ruddy awesome!! As I paddled I could just nudge the little beaut under me back into a straight line using a knee, short tap and we're all straight again!
The feeling of having a board under you and in the water as opposed to lying atop a board that is floating on the water and bobbing around is like night and day.
I can grab the rails near the nose or along the side and just shift her around, it's so much easier and also easier when getting upset by the motion of the ocean as you can readjust so quickly rather than feeling knocked off your craft! I can also now force the nose well under water to make the beginnings of a duck dip/dive so can't wait for proper waves to try that out. However when I resurfaced it was twice as quick to assemble underneath me and carry on as my bigger board, also because of the reduced volume the wave doesn't 'catch' so much and rip it out of your hand so I was instantly more stable when I did try a dive/dip. Also because it's smaller and more manoeuvrable, when you feel the balance is off just grab it and shift it back to where it should be rather than trying to climb all over it like a toddler on a bouncy castle who's gone a bit weak at the knees.

Sitting up - Great!! Didn't think I'd actually be able to sit up and balance but did it straight away and not once fell off, was so nice and felt stable.

Popping up - my real bugbear. No trouble at all, the waves were ridiculously not present at my party so had to wait forever just for SOMETHING to come along. When it did I was up before I knew it and in that second I knew that it was all OK, I hadn't gone too short. It is going to take a little getting used to as my feet are off the end and it's narrower but I'm looking forward to it!

Wave catching/riding - Totally going to be harder it being much shorter but can't wait to get bigger waves. Took the bic out after and it was much easier to catch waves with but the small humps there today barely qualified as waves. Unfortunately the waves I stood on were over in two seconds so no way of knowing how it rides. My mistress knows how to keep the mystery in our relationship seemed to plant my feet OK though and can't wait for a proper day.

All in all stoked beyond belief!! Thank you so so much for all the advice, words of wisdom and thoughts.

Big thanks to Banz and Benjl for recommending Torq, to DTC for giving me the confidence to push for the 7'2, for dbbb and loyd and Jaffa and waikikichan for expert insight in choice of board! And anyone else who's chipped in. I'll keep this thread running with my exploits with the blue dame and it may even be useful to someone, who knows!

Cheers!!

[dtc]

Great report. Obviously hoping you can get some worthwhile waves soon (and you will probably feel a bit more confident on larger/steeper waves than with the longer board). I have to admit I rarely (ok, never) surf my longboard anymore having made the move for the reasons you have eloquently expressed. See, another month and you will start thinking about the 6ft6 fish...

Good lesson to all - if you learn the basics on a proper board, then transitioning down at the right stage of your development is not that hard.

[benjl]

Mate! So stoked to hear that you find it as good as I found mine and honestly, only onwards and upwards from here.

As DTC said, I bet you'll slowly start wanting that 6'6 fish and speaking from experience.. It is also a whole heap of fun

[Jester]

It's terrible.. I already started looking admiringly at the fourth chilli bean after surfer123's post

Thanks guys! I'm absolutely over the moon with it and just can't wait for a day with proper waves Benj I was dead chuffed how much the serious surfers I bumped into were impressed by her!

Dtc thanks man, yup you got me thinking of big boy short boards n the future! I think this is probably all I'm gonna need for my type of local waves though if I'm being all sensible and such. DTC when I was on a proper big wave on my bic (estimate at 6ft face or more) my takeoff was always angled as I'd practiced it a million times in smaller stuff, so the initial drop I never feared pearling despite the length. So I'd highly recommend using that if you're just starting out. It doesn't lead to a bottom turn though..coz I found I was pretty much instantly running along the face. It was mostly fear and self preservation that had me at a small angle to start!

On more medium sized waves I have taken a drop or two fairly straight but my balance shifted significantly to the rear to keep me upright and the nose was well out of the water then until I hit the flats with speed!! The bic was awesomely lively and so easy to turn with that speed and my foot that far back! can't imagine what the new one is gonna feel like but I'm excited!!

[Jester]

By all things good and hairy I do declare I LOVE my new board!!

Now that's out of the way I'd like to update with how I'm getting on.. Went out yesterday in lahinch but it was ridiculously small again so I just took out the Bic. Nothing much to speak of but I think my experience with the new girl has made me better on my old barge, I started to use the wheeling around to catch a wave movement that I'd learned, on the big old tanker and it's the best I've ever done on her. I also think my paddling and belly balancing may have improved.

Now to today, I went to my local break and it was small again but not as small as yesterday. I took out my lovely gorgeous new board. The thing is a dream to paddle, it is so stable as well and I'm just chuffed to bits with it, got way more popping up done today. Alas I do have to work on this but by the end of the day I was analysing what I was doing wrong and actively working on fixing it, can you guess what it was?! Yup, not putting my hands back far enough..schoolboy error!! Much improved once I realised.

First time in my life that I actually slipped off a board today as I planted my foot a little further forward than I should and onto the unwaxed portion of the deck. Whoops!

Also first time I actually experienced painful ribs! must be because it was two days in a row, imagining the pain if I didn't have a wetsuit, ouch.

This is how great being on this board is..after about ten mins in the water I actually forgot I was on a new board, just happily adjusted to it! So stoked I also love starting to push my nose under waves and not have to punch through or ride over them all the time. You come up already on the board and it's so much easier and feels faster

I just don't lose control of this board as easily as the big one! You can pull it underneath you wherever you want instead of pulling yourself onto it, Love it!

Caught a few green waves but they were short as the waves were only a foot high mostly, it responds lovely though and I can tell it turns easier, not that I did much, but I did a little.

On the downside, I need to learn to take waves better, I'm being lazy and taking half of them too late, which caused a late pop up and that dreaded whitewash ride, I know it was small but that's not a good excuse as later on I worked on it a bit more and although I was afraid of missing them, started trying to build up a bit more of a run.

Another thing I learnt today, the shape of a given wave really makes a difference at least on small beach break waves. They were changing from wave to wave and the peaks were moving around too. A lot of the bad waves that I'd grown accustomed to taking late were actually poor dumping waves that curled over and crashed too quickly. The ones I began to hunt later in the day had a lovely smooth A frame in front of them that provided a more stable platform to paddle into. It got me in early, meant my strokes actually counted for something (on the small dumping ones that were sucking up in front of them they sucked away my forward momentum it seamed so I didn't feel like I was travelling at the same speed as the wave, much harder to stand up early on, hence late, hence whitewash 50% of the time) so yeah, the image in my head that I have now is clearer. That's Not to say I didn't stick some of those late ones that curled over quick though! I still used my angled takeoff and got a few but although they're easy to catch, they weren't quality and fizzled out quicker.

Still only a 1ft day so I haven't got a proper report of how she rides but I'm beginning to see the potential massively pleased and can't wait for a day with some proper waves!

[jaffa1949]

PROGRESS